TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Miami Beach Nonprofit Shows Disabled Veterans Love

ADVERTISEMENT

The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 4, 2008

MIAMI - MIAMI - Jorge Roque endured life in the Kuwaiti desert as his Marine Corps unit waited for the signal that the war in Iraq had begun. He survived as friends died fighting their way into Baghdad. He witnessed the famous toppling of the city's statue of Saddam Hussein.

But he wasn't prepared for the hardships he faced when he tried to create a life for himself after he was discharged from the military. He was unemployed and living in his car when he went to the local Veterans Affairs center seeking help.

The VA center directed him to Veteran Love and Appreciation Fund Inc., a private nonprofit based in Miami Beach. It helps needy disabled ex-soldiers who have served in Iraq, Afghanistan and other wars by giving them money until their government checks begin, including rent payments and gift cards for food and gas.

Roque is one of about 130 people Veteran Love has helped since it was created in 2003. He is now studying to pursue his longtime dream of filmmaking.

"They come home and they don't know what to do next," said Charlene Riggs, who runs the fund with her mother-in-law Toni Garner. "They need a person to basically walk them through getting the forms filled out. ... The veterans are so lost in trying to become re-acclimated into a normal life."

The local VA center has been working with Veteran Love for about two years.

"The immediacy of the help makes a big difference," said Patrick Murphy, the VA center's supervisor. "Sometimes it's not enough, sometimes it's enough to keep things going."

'Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind'

When Roque, 28, came back from his tour in Iraq in June 2003, he had made it to the rank of corporal and was based in Twentynine Palms, Calif. When his contract ended, he stayed in California for a year and then went to Puerto Rico for several months before moving to Miami in 2005. He moved in with a friend who was also an ex-Marine, but the friend eventually turned to drugs and Roque left.

He wanted to attend film school, but couldn't afford tuition. He worked a variety of odd jobs before he sought help. By the time he was referred to Garner, he was homeless and having a hard time adjusting to civilian life.

"One thing that I noticed that me and some other guys were having a problem with is we seem to be getting violent, 'cause I used to be a very mellow guy. That's why I went to the VA to talk to a psychiatrist," he said.

Garner rented a room for him and had an attorney donate his services to represent him in a legal matter in California.

Garner's group gets referrals from VA centers in Florida and other states, as well as from VA hospitals. Most of the applications the group gets are from people suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

"They are the ones having the hardest time holding a job because of their personality issues," Garner said. "Most of us - if we don't know anybody in the military - are detached. It's like out of sight, out of mind in America."

In 2006, Veteran Love had a fundraiser, netting about $116,000, which it has been doling out. It has about $40,000 left and is trying to raise more. The fund was created with the guidance and financial assistance of Garner's son, who pays for the overhead - including a secretary and a recently hired grant writer - while Garner and Riggs volunteer.
Riggs works out of her Atlanta home while her children are in school. After she receives the applications for help, she makes sure the soldiers meet the disability criteria. She then tries to get them money fast, sometimes in a day or two.

"They are very desperate," Riggs said. "A lot of times they will be in this limbo. They will expect a disability check ... but a lot of times that doesn't come quick enough."

Fresh Starts

Staff Sgt. John Borders, 35, and his family received money to fix their car so they could drive it from Kansas to Washington, D.C., where he has undergone 54 surgeries. His right leg was amputated below the knee after he was injured when an improvised explosive device went off under his patrol vehicle in Taji, Iraq, in 2006. Doctors are still trying to save his left. The group also gave the family $5,000 toward appliances for a home that they are trying to build in the Tampa area.

"I was in awe. I was speechless. A lot of the organizations will only help you one time," Borders said of getting the check for the appliances.

For Julio Salazar, a 23-year-old ex-Marine had served in Fallujah, Iraq, for four months before an IED exploded near him while he was on roadside patrol, Veteran Love helped to restart his life. In early 2007, the group gave him the deposit and first month's rent for the Hialeah apartment he lives in and a volunteer gave him furniture. He was then able to find a job as a peer counselor at the Miami VA hospital. When Veteran Love helped him, he was battling PTSD and his wife was divorcing him.

Salazar says his journey from Iraq to his life today hasn't been easy.

But Veteran Love has "shown me that there's people out there that care," he said.

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT